Militants ousted in 3rd major town

Thursday

Jan 31, 2013 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2013 at 10:58 AM

SEVARE, Mali - French forces met no resistance yesterday in the streets of Kidal, the Islamists' last major town, as the

SEVARE, Mali — French forces met no resistance yesterday in the streets of Kidal, the Islamists’ last major town, as the 2-week-old mission scored another success in its effort to dislodge the al-Qaida-linked militants from northern Mali.

The capture of Kidal’s airport came just days after French and Malian forces retook two other provincial capitals — Gao and Timbuktu — that also had been under harsh Islamic rule for nearly 10 months.

“Nobody questions France’s rapid deployment, but the ability to hold on to the cities and territory is an immense challenge. It is not clear how they will be able to sustain the recent gains,” said Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. “ The Islamist extremists have not been defeated; they have melted into the heat haze of the desert."

The Islamists are believed to have an elaborate system of caves and other desert hideouts that they have constructed during the last year as momentum for a West African regional military intervention stalled.

The majority of Timbuktu’s ancient manuscripts appear to be safe and undamaged after the Saharan city’s 10-month occupation by the Islamists, experts said yesterday, rejecting some media reports of their widespread destruction.The experts said the bulk of the Timbuktu texts had been safely hidden well before the city’s liberation by French forces on Sunday.In Paris, French army Col. Thierry Burkhard confirmed that the airport in Kidal was taken overnight and described the operation itself as “ongoing.”

“Now it’s up to African countries to take over,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Le Parisien newspaper. “We decided to put the means — in men and supplies — to make the mission succeed and hit hard. But the French aspect was never expected to be maintained. We will leave quickly.”